Odd Man Out
by Giant Red Panda
Summary: Peter Pettigrew is in his first year and meets his future Marauder friends. Is he the shy weakling he's made out to be or a conniving determined individual?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Friends**

James Potter was walking down the open hallway with his two best buds, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, when he saw something that set a smug smirk on his face. It was Snape, Severus Snape, taunting a fellow first year in the courtyard...and it was a Gryffindor no less. James simply looked over his shoulder at Sirius and the two were off. Remus trailed behind like a lost puppy half out of fright of being left alone and half out of exasperation. The three first year Gryffindors were going to show that lone Slytherin that the lions were not to be messed with. They wanted to help that student as much as they wanted a shot at Snape.

These valiant Gryffindors did not know the full story, though. They thought Snape was antagonizing the other student out of malice. Snape was actually the one being teased, but managed to turn the tables on his attacker now victim. After Pettigrew had tried, and failed, at a bat-bogie hex spell, Snape had thrown the contents of his cauldron on Peter. Peter Pettigrew was now mercilessly plastered against the courtyard wall with some glue-like substance. The cauldron was in the grass next to Severus spilling the left-over potion onto the courtyard ground. Peter had been teasing Severus about his greasy black locks of hair and a desperate lack of friends, which is ironic considering Peter's dirty appearance and his total amount of friends being zero. "Well, Worm? What do you have to say now? I don't see any of your friends coming to your rescue," Severus sneered at Peter. He had used the nickname Peter hated. It was directed not only at his dirty looks, but also at the embarrassing moment when he tripped and ate dirt. The effect of the name was the one Severus wanted, but the reason for it was not caused by him. Peter started to cry. He had seen a group of Gryffindors coming his way and thought they might help him if he appeared to be severely distraught. They were going to help him get revenge on this snake by beating Severus up. And it worked quite well.

"Put him down, Snivellus," James commanded Severus. He used the slighting nickname he had given Snape on their first day of potions. The lone Slytherin only glared in return. "I said, Put. Him. Down," James repeated forcefully. He reached for his wand tucked away in his robe. If Snivellus wanted a duel, he was going to give him a duel.

"I can't, Potter," Severus finally responded in a dull tone. "If you had payed any kind of attention in potions class you would know that this is Polly Potion, a mixture like cement. Only someone with the right spell can remove it and I, unfortunately, do not know it," he said the last few words of his response with a tone of mockery. Severus knew the spell, but there was no way he'd tell them what it was. Peter began to whimper as he saw James pause, thinking he wasn't going to help anymore. "Be quiet, Worm!" Severus shouted as he whipped around. Three wands were pointed at him in an instant. Severus had had just about enough from these fools when Remus spoke up.

"I know the spell to get him off. Why don't we all put away our wands, so none of us lose house points," Remus suggested. It was then that Peter noticed only Sirius and James were targeting Severus. Remus had his wand trained on his fellow Gryffindors. The two hot-headed boys lowered their wands slowly. "Severus," Remus said, "I suggest you start on that Charms essay soon, it's a long assignment." Severus took this as his cue, gathered up his stuff, and hurried off to the dungeons cloak flapping behind him.

Peter stared at the back of the fading silhouette. He wished he could be so calm and calculating under pressure. Sparks flashed and he was falling off the wall to the ground. He screamed in fear. He thudded on the ground in the grass and covered his head. It was too good to be true, these guys were just going to hurt him too. Who was he to think that someone would stick up for him and then not be tempted to bully him? He was the round, scruffy, dirty boy that no one ever talked to. He always worked off pity to get what he wanted or scrounged around to get what he needed. Protecting himself had always been his number one priority.

"Hey, buddy. Get up off the ground. We're all in the same house and year," Sirius said gently. He felt sorry for this lump of a Gryffindor cowering in the grass. James took Peter's arm and helped lift him off the ground. Sirius began twiddling his wand as he thought. He wanted to show Severus and his family that he was not anything like a Slytherin nor what a standard Slytherin acted like. "James, Remus," Sirius began, "can I talk to you guys over there for a second?" The trio left Peter alone to stand on the other side of the courtyard and Sirius began to talk, "I want to let Peter into the group. We shouldn't let someone like Snivellus bully a Gryffindor." James was nodding in agreement. He also wanted to include Peter so he could impress a girl he liked. James Potter: Protector of the Bullied. It had a nice ring to it. Remus shrugged, he didn't feel one way or the other. "Alright then," Sirius said putting his hands in his pockets, "let's go welcome him to the group."

Peter Pettigrew's life had changed forever. He had friends and didn't care why they were there. He was now with people who could protect him. They had chased off Severus Snape after all. James Potter and Sirius Black were two of the most popular people at Hogwarts. Remus Lupin was one of the smartest Gryffindors out there. Peter Pettigrew, him, the weird one, the worm, was now friends with three brave and popular Gryffindors. As long as he went along with them, he would be protected and never alone.


	2. Chapter 2

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" Sirius shouted at Peter as he jumped on his bed. "It's Halloween!" Sirius jumped from Peter's bed to Remus's.

Peter rolled out of bed still half asleep. Sirius sure didn't have a lack of energy or enthusiasm. "What happens on Halloween that makes you so excited?" Peter asked Sirius rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

He paused in his shoving James out of bed and told Peter, "It's the one holiday I can actually celebrate with my family and not be ridiculed. It's actually fun!" Sirius went back to pushing James onto the floor.

Peter thought this was odd. He didn't actually know anything about his newly acquired friends even though it had been some weeks since they had saved him. His family wasn't very close, so nothing was really a happy event. He just thought other people smiled happily and had family gatherings. Sirius was absolutely elated with Halloween. "No sugar for him today," Remus muttered to Peter. Peter let out a quick burst of laughter.

The group of friends ran downstairs to the Great Hall for breakfast. It was Peter's first glimpse of her. They were just sitting down when he saw a shimmer of orange at the Slytherin table. She had reddish hair that draped down her back and she was talking to Severus Snape. He poked Sirius on the shoulder, "Who is that girl?" Peter's eyes were glued to her face. He could see the green in her eyes from where he sat.

Sirius looked up from the pancake he was unmercifully devouring, "that's Lily Evans." He mumbled through his mouthful, "she's a Gryffindor, but best friends with Snivellus apparently. Quite odd." The hungry boy shrugged his shoulders and went back to shoveling food in his mouth.

Remus was staring at Sirius with a look of repulsion on his face, "Chew, Sirius! You're going to choke if you keep that up. Godric, I always have to be the voice of reason in this group."

"Meehhh," was Sirius's response and he went back to eating.

"Hey guys," James spoke up. The group went quiet listening to him, "Why don't we wonder around this old castle while everyone's outside with the pumpkins?" Sirius deflated a little at the suggestion.

"I wanted to carve a pumpkin," he mumbled.

James clasped him on the shoulder and winked at him, "We'll be doing something a bit more fun and it does involve pumpkins." He had a glint in his eye that told his friends he had a plan brewing in his cauldron instead of a potion.

Peter had noticed in his weeks with them that Sirius and James had a knack for getting into trouble. Remus seemed to be the one to stop them from going too awry. First there were the birds in Charms class. James and Sirius had charmed them to attack on the site of yellow. Only the birds didn't attack the people, they aimed only for buttons. Those poor Hufflepuffs. They never knew what hit them. Remus had to stop the birds from pecking out every single clasp, clip, button, and tie. Then another one a few days later caused Filch to get very angry. James had captured Ms. Norris, Filch's cat, and gave her a bath. Well, more of they both got a bath and Sirius watched from a distance. Afterwards, the two hooligans dyed the poor cat pink, tied a bow in her fur, and sent her on her merry way. To say the least, Peter was nervous and scared at what they would come up with next.

"With Remus's help," James whispered intently, "I thought we could make it rain pumpkins. What do you guys think?" Sirius, of course, loved it, but Remus had his speculations, and Peter was too shy to speak up.

"The only problem with it is getting caught," Remus explained. "It would be a great thing to do, but we would certainly lose many house points and get detention..."

Peter had been thinking about this too. However, he actually had an idea for the solution. "Why don't we ask Peeves to set them off after we join the rest of the house?" The group stared at him in surprise.

"That's a brilliant idea, Peter," Remus said. "He actually owes me a favor for getting Professor McGonagall off his back for something." The brilliant young wizard began thinking up plans. The group discussed for the rest of breakfast and a little into the break afterwards.

"Okay," James whispered,"are we all ready?" All three of his companions nodded their heads. As one they whispered "Wingardium Leviosa" and sacks of pumpkins were lifted up into the castle from an open window. They ran inside before they were caught. They had chosen an empty classroom near the pumpkin patch to make the lifting and the dropping easier. Soon Peeves arrived.

"Alright little firsties! What did you call me here for?" An irritated Peeves said. He obviously had his own Halloween plans to do.

"Just like we discussed, Peeves," Remus said in a stern tone.

"Oooooh, look at the scawy wittle ickle firsty..." Peeves paused in his taunting when Remus refused to look away or blink. "Okay okay, just like you told me." He flew off grumbling to himself.

"Umm, one minute for me to finish the spell," he told the rest of the group. They laid out the pumpkins in rows and Remus waved and flicked in his wand and muttered under his breath. Soon all the pumpkins had grown. "Okay, away we go," the boy said with a grin on his face.

"Remember, Peeves, not until you see ALL of us down there!" James shouted over his shoulder.

Peter was absolutely thrilled to be a part of this. He was so excited to have friends and prank other people. To be able to laugh and play just made him so happy.

They had made it down to the carving tables just after they were supposed to, so the Head Boy had some fun telling them about punctuality. "If I was a professor, I would have taken 5 house points! If I was your boss..." so on and so forth. The group had just sat down at the table when they heard Peeves cackling.

"Ahahaha! Little students carving pumpkins, eh? Maybe I should give you all some more pumpkins to use!" His head disappeared from the window and pumpkins began to fly out the window. They had been charmed to explode at a certain point in the air, but Remus was only a first year. Finally, right before Peter thought it was too late, the pumpkins exploded. Candy and pumpkin rained down on the students. Pumpkin carnage was everywhere. Sirius picked up a handful of pumpkin goo and threw it at James. James retaliated with a chocolate frog. Soon everyone was throwing food and candy.

"Students! Put everything down! Stop throwing -" the Head Boy had just gotten a face full of pumpkin from someone with exceptionally good aim.

"I've always wanted to do that," Lily Evans said taking some licorice wands out of her hair. "Ick. It's so sticky! What?" She had turned to see James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter staring at her.

"You just took out the Head Boy!" Sirius shouted at her.

"Hush! If he doesn't know, then I won't lose any points. Besides I'm guessing you guys were the ones who planned this in the first place?" She walked away before they could respond.

The pumpkin and candy fight continued until Professor McGonagall showed up to end it. Peter and Remus had snuck up behind Sirius and James and dumped a bucket of pumpkin seeds and pulp on them just before she called it over. The two victims glared at their friends, but didn't retaliate for fear of McGonagall. Sirius was especially terrified of the woman. As punishment, all of those who had participated in the fight were forced to help clean up with no use of magic. No one complained, though, they had candy to munch on while throwing away the unwanted stuff.

Peter was absolutely exhausted by the time the Halloween Feast came around that night. The clean up earlier hade made him very sore. He had found it to be a ton of fun, though. At dinner he chowed down almost as ferociously as Sirius, but nothing could beat that appetite. It was like Sirius was a starving dog at every meal.

Later that night, before they had all gone to bed, Peter told them all, "Thank you, guys, for the awesome day today. I don't think I've ever had that much fun before."

"Anytime, Pete. We live for laughs and friendship," Sirius responded half asleep. A second later he was snoring. Remus and James made agreement noises with Sirius's comment and nodded off too.

"Pete...I like it. I finally have a nickname from a friend," Peter whispered to himself as he drifted off into sleep.


End file.
